Update on the damaged F-22 stealth fighters at Tyndall Air Force Base

Good news. According to multiple reports, including Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, the damage to the F-22s that couldn’t evacuate from Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City, FL ahead of Hurricane Michael is “less than we feared” and “promising”:

NEW: After visiting the devastated Tyndall AFB today Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson says in a statement tonight that while assessments are still going on the damage to the F-22's & other aircraft “was less than we feared and looks promising.”

UPDATE: Mattis tells traveling press that @usairforce’s initial review of the jets left behind at Tyndall AFB shows they all “are fixable.” Won’t know for sure until he gets a final assessment but initial review was “more positive than I anticipated”

As we told you on Sunday and the president reiterated yesterday, the jets couldn’t fly out ahead of the storm due to maintenance issues:

"I don't like it. In fact, my first question is, "Why didn't they take them out?" That's because they were fixing. Nobody thought it was a big deal, and then all of a sudden, it started and then became a Category 4. It happened very quickly."